Our Empowerment

By RHYS SAUNDERS
THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER
Posted Oct 12, 2008 @ 01:52 AM

As he spoke in Springfield on Saturday of his own involvement in some of the most historic episodes in the civil rights movement, U.S. Rep. John Lewis was making headlines nationally for remarks that the McCain-Palin presidential campaign is “sowing the seeds of hatred and division” with its negative attacks on Barack Obama.

The Georgia congressman and civil rights activist, in Springfield as the keynote speaker for the Illinois NAACP’s state convention at the President Abraham Lincoln Hotel & Conference Center, had issued a statement earlier Saturday that was sharply critical of John McCain and Sarah Palin for adopting a tone that stirred “hostility” and was reminiscent of the tactics of Alabama Gov. George Wallace in the 1960s. The statement drew an angry response from McCain.

After his speech Saturday, Lewis retreated somewhat from the Wallace comparison but stood by the rest of his statement.

“I wasn’t trying to compare them to Governor Wallace, I was only saying the language that they’re using could be partisan and it could provoke violence,” Lewis said Saturday night. He said he was “sorry the senator (McCain) feels that way.”

For a veteran of the civil rights movement like Lewis, however, Saturday’s back-and-forth with McCain amounts to minor encounter.

Lewis spoke about his involvement with nonviolent protests and civil disobedience during the 1960s as well as the sacrifices many made to end segregation and ensured blacks the right to vote.

“When it came time for us to sit in, we’d be sitting in an orderly and peaceful fashion, waiting to be served at a lunch counter,” Lewis said. “And someone would come up and put a lit cigarette out in our hair, down our backs, spit on us, pull us off the lunch counter stools, beat us and then we would be arrested and taken to jail. We didn’t fight back, we didn’t strike back, we didn’t become bitter or hostile.”

Lewis participated in the 1961 Freedom Rides that challenged segregated bus seating in the South and chaired the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, a group that organized student activism. By 1963, he had become a nationally recognized leader and was deemed one of the Big Six — along with Martin Luther King Jr. — of the civil rights movement.

During an interview with The State Journal-Register on Saturday, Lewis also made no secret about endorsing Obama as the next president.

“I think Barack Obama has emerged on the American scene as one of the few individuals of our time that have inspired an entire generation,” he said. “I see people who a few years ago wouldn’t have had anything to do with social action or being involved in American politics … who are now committed and dedicated.

“Barack Obama will have America at the table, dealing with the global issues of peace and war, issues of the environment, and making this planet a little safer, a little more peaceful and a little more greener for generations to come.”

Rhys Saunders can be reached at 788-1521.